The Santa Fe to Taos Trail is not about hikers or thru-hiking. It is about the land: the forests, the watersheds, the mountains, and all the life they hold. We are not here just to pass through and take from this place. We are here to care for it. If you come to the SF2T Trail, come as a steward. It’s time for hikers to start thinking and behaving as stewards.
The Santa Fe to Taos Trail goes from the Santa Fe Plaza to Taos Plaza over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. It is 132 miles long, spans five counties – Santa Fe, San Miguel, Mora, Rio Arriba, and Taos – and crosses the Santa Fe National Forest, The Pecos Wilderness, and Carson National Forest. The full route has 35,000 feet of cumulative ascent and descent, as both plazas are at 7,000 feet elevation.
The route is over a decade in the making, scouted and refined by Pam Neely beginning around 2014, and then first completed as a thru-hike in 2018. It has been refined several times to optimize safety and access to water. It is still being refined and expanded.
UPCOMING EVENT
Buffalo Thunder Outdoor Expo
TIME: Saturday, June 27 (9:00 AM–5:00 PM) & Sunday, June 28 (9:00 AM–2:00 PM)
LOCATION: Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder, 20 Buffalo Thunder Trail, Santa Fe, NM. Directions here.
COST: Free admission and parking
Come get your copy of the new 2nd edition guidebook (get it signed!), get SF2T merch, get your questions about the Santa Fe to Taos Trail answered, and more.
Panchuela Campground is closed from May 4 to September 30th
Jack’s Creek Campground and NM 63 north of Cowles are also closed until September 30th.
Santa Fe National Forest and Carson National Forest both in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions until September 30th unless rescinded
Total registered hikers (as of June 19, 2026)
- 207 registered groups
- 404 registered people
- Average group size: 1.95 people
New Mexico hikers (June 19, 2026 data here and below)
- 65 groups
- 126 registered people
- 32.0% of groups
- 31.8% of people
Out-of-state U.S. hikers
- 138 groups
- 270 registered people
- 68.0% of groups
- 68.2% of people
Top states after New Mexico by groups
- Texas: 33 groups (16.3% of groups), 56 people (14.1% of people)
- Colorado: 30 groups (14.8% of groups), 54 people (13.6% of people)
- Arizona: 16 groups (7.9% of groups), 41 people (10.4% of people)
- California: 15 groups (7.4% of groups), 31 people (7.8% of people)
International hikers
- Australia: 4 people
- Mexico: 2 people
- Netherlands: 1 person
Elevation profile of the 2026 route of the Santa Fe to Taos Trail
Maps and route
See the route page and individual section pages for details on the route and turn-by-turn directions for the route.
Presentation at the Los Alamos Mountaineers monthly meeting at the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium, Tuesday, October 28th
Huge thanks to the Mountaineers and the Nature Center for this opportunity.
Plaza to Plaza in 52 photographs
Each photograph is from one of the 50 subsections that make up the route.
